Resident Composer  

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For the last 25 years, Marcel has enjoyed an active musical career as a teacher, performer, composer, improviser. He is also internationally active as a clinician, juror, and lecturer and has been involved as a collaborative pianist and vocal coach.

Marcel has been on faculty at Mount Royal University, the University of Calgary, and served as Artistic Director, as well as Director of Program Advancement, at the Langley Community Music School.

From 2009 -2013, he was Professor of Music at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ont. where he taught Piano, Piano ensemble, Chamber music, Conducting, Form & Analysis, Harmony, Survey of Music and Seminars on Music History and Performance Practice. Marcel is currently Co-Artistic Director of White Rock Concerts and Resident Composer at LCMS. He is an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre.

An internationally acclaimed piano duo, Marcel and his wife Elizabeth have been performing together for over 25 years. They received first prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Caltanissetta, Italy, were laureates of The 4th Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition and were performing artists in Yehudi Menuhin’s organization Live Music Now. Their recitals and concerts with orchestra have taken them to many parts of the world, including the United States, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, France, Macedonia, Greece, China and Canada. The duo has appeared at international festivals including: Festival of the Sound, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, San Francisco International Music Festival, MusicFest Vancouver, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Banff Arts Festival, Royal Bank Calgary International Organ Festival and Competition, Festival Miami, Ohrid Summer Festival, Tage für Neue Musik, Darmstadt, Braunschweiger Kammermusik Podium, and EXPO 2000, Hannover. They have recorded for the CBC, for several stations of the ARD in Germany and for National Public Radio in the USA and have made several CDs, which appear on the Arktos and Naxos labels. The collaboration as a piano duo has inspired numerous compositions and arrangements for 2 pianos and piano duet, many of which can be heard on their various recordings. Marcel’s works are featured on the Brilliant Classics release, Minimal Piano Music, X-XX.

In addition to frequent appearances as a chamber musician, Marcel performed as a core musician of the Calgary based group Land’s End Chamber Ensemble, recipient of both the 2005 and 2006 Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Classical Recording. In 2004/2005, Marcel and his wife were Artistic Directors of The Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition and Foundation in Miami.

Marcel’s creative output includes music for film, theatre and cabaret productions, as well as choral and chamber music. The Bavarian Television, Arte and other European broadcasting corporations, have broadcast his music for television features. He has been commissioned by various organizations including the CBC, the Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Foundation, the Land’s End Chamber Ensemble, the Spiritus Chamber Choir, the San Francisco International Music Festival, the Langley Community Music School and the VSO School of Music. Marcel is an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre.

A native of Munich, Germany, Marcel Bergmann studied musicology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover with Arie Vardi. After obtaining a Bachelors degree, Masters degree and Artist Diploma, Marcel received a scholarship from the Université de Montréal where he and his wife pursued specialized studies in duo piano with Jean-Eudes Vaillancourt. Subsequently, he completed post-graduate work in the Solistenklasse in Hannover with Arie Vardi.